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Pumping - what to do on the weekend?

Hello all!

DD is 17 weeks old and I have been back to work since she was 13 weeks. I have been pumping at work and it has been going well - 3 times a day and about 4 ounces each time which is the amount she is taking in bottles while at daycare.

My question is what to do on the weekends. Typically I have been ditching the pump (except for pumping one last time before I go to sleep) on the weekend and trying to have DD nurse as often as possible. I was telling another mom this however and she said I should be doing the same thing on the weekend as I do during the week because it could hurt my supply otherwise. Is this true?

Re: Pumping - what to do on the weekend?

On the weekends, I generally didn't pump at all and just nursed as per usual. I didn't have any problems with supply. I just used whatever I pumped on Friday as her milk for Monday. If you're not having any problems with supply, then I don't see a reason to worry about it.

Re: Pumping - what to do on the weekend?

I agree. No need to pump on weekends unless you are coming up short with your weekday pumping. But it sounds like you are doing great in that department! And trying to nurse as often as possible on the weekends is just the right thing to do. The weekend nursing really helps keep up the weekday supply. (As does nighttime nursing - something I always told myself when being awakened at night to nurse!) Keep up the good work!

Re: Pumping - what to do on the weekend?

I didn't pump at all on the weekends, just nursed on demand.

I have a friend that only nurses her LO first thing in the morning then again before bed. The rest of the time baby gets bottles of pumped milk. Her sister did this with success so she is taking that approach. She uses the same pumping schedule on the weekends as she does on the weekdays, and for some reason this is reassuring for her.

IMO, using a pump while watching my partner give baby a bottle would drive me insane, but so far this is what they like to do.

ETA: I didn't see the comment about nursing all weekend hurting supply. Yeah, that is crap. Nursing all weekend will up your supply. Monday was always my most bountiful day, especially when I hit the 9 month pumping slump.

Re: Pumping - what to do on the weekend?

Here's how I interpret your friend's comment about needing to "do the same thing" every day, weekdays and weekends... it is about frequency of milk removals, not number of times at the pump. You are only pumping on weekdays as a substitute for nursing because you are separated from baby (not to boost supply which would be a different issue), and you are doing so in the same pattern as you expect your baby to be eating - so whenever you expect her to eat at daycare, you pump. But when you are with baby, you are nursing her at every feeding. Thus your breasts are experiencing the same frequency and pattern of milk removals both weekday and weekend, so what you are doing now is already the "same thing" every day. If you were to ADD pumping into your weekend schedule as your friend suggests, that would actually be going ABOVE your normal threshold, not maintaining it. So I think your friend's interpretation of what is/isn't consistent for supply maintenance is missing the mark.